Thawing the Ice
by Narcolus
Summary: This is just a little test so I can figure out how this site works. I need a place to store my stories so that I can free up space somewhere else, such as my computer, so I'll be uploading my stories here. :P They aren't particularly fanfiction, more of just my own characters in my own stories, but, eh.


Winter is the coldest yet hottest time of the year; at least, regarding clothing. The clothing industry completely _explodes_ with Santa-themed scarves or red and green jackets or snowman boots or... yeah, you get it. Clothing stores all over the place from stores that sell beautiful, snowflake-themed designer dresses for an upwards of a thousand dollars or itchy skirts that have cartoon-ish reindeer heads poorly stitched onto random parts of the cloth for a few bucks have visitors coming from every part of the nation. They just want to look cute while possibly dying of hypothermia out in a blizzard _just_ because that designer dress they bought doesn't quite cover much of their skin and instead decides to show as much cleavage as the woman has.

Other people, or, the people who don't care about fashion and just want to stay warm, decide to buy simple clothing that has the ability to keep them warm, instead of having the ability to show how god damn attractive they are. They don't care what they're given, ugly or not, they just want to stay all cozy and snug during this time of the year. The best way to stay heated is to hop on your bed, whip on a blanket and rest your head on a soft pillow.

After that, you're basically all set for hibernation, as some people may call it, but in this case, at least, in Levi Puissant's case, that wouldn't work. For some reason, the blanket wouldn't calm the freezing winter inside of Levi's body, and the soft pillow actually wasn't soft at all. It felt as though nothing would be able to make him warm again. Winter was always the worst for Levi. Ironically, though, it was his favorite time of the year.

Groaning, Levi tossed and turned on his mattress, which hurt both his shoulder blades and his back. While he was struggling to find a comfortable and warm spot on the bed, his closest friend, Joseph Arzt was out in the living room, sitting on a chair, reading a book. Joseph only got up from the leather seat when he heard a loud and obnoxious moan come from Levi's room. When he arrived outside of Levi's room, he grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, and pushed, opening the door. Levi was positioned so peacefully that Joseph, at first, didn't believe that Levi was the one who made the sound.

"Levi?" Joseph asked.

"The fuck you want," Levi groaned, his voice low and grumpy.

Joseph sometimes didn't understand Levi's body language. First, he'd be in a neutral position near a door, but when Joseph (or someone else) would try to start up a friendly conversation, he'd punch a hole in the door and suddenly reveal that he was actually mad as all hell, yelling at you as if you just threatened him.

"Uh... are you alright?" Joseph said.

"No," Levi grunted.

"Aw." Joseph stepped inside of the room, closed the door behind him, and walking over to Levi's bed, then sat on the edge of it. "Do you need some emotional support?"

"No, fuck you."

"Okay, never mind." Joseph stood up from the bed.

Levi turned around, facing Joseph. "Wait, no! I didn't mean it! No, no wait, no, DON'T LEAVE!"

Joseph glanced over his shoulder. "Well? What is it?"

"Don't leave."

"But you dropped a nuclear f-bomb on my hea-"

"That doesn't mean I don't want your help, dumbass!"

"Okay, okay. You don't need to get so worked up about it."

"Shut up."

Joseph laughed, walking back over to Levi's bed and once again sitting on the edge of it. "Well, what's the matter?" he asked.

"I'm cold," Levi replied, simply.

Joseph giggled. "Really? Is that it?" he teased.

"Well, I'm cold _as fuck,_ " Levi added.

" _As fuck_ doesn't really change anything."

"Yes it does you dipshit, it changes the fact that I'm _fucking cold!_ "

Joseph laughed, raising his hands in the air. "Alright, calm down," he said with a short giggle.

"CALM DOWN?! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL ME TO CA-"

Joseph put his right hand over Levi's mouth, muffling the rest of his sentence. When Levi felt Joseph's palm over his lips he narrowed his eyes at Joseph. Although his hand was still on Levi's mouth, Joseph was still able to hear what Levi had said.

It was clearly, "Fuck you."

Joseph removed his hand from Levi's mouth as he rolled his eyes. "You've used the words 'fuck' and 'you' in the same sentence so many times tha-"

"Oh, shut the hell up," Levi interrupted, "it's not like _you_ don't say it either."

"Well, yes, I _do_ say it, but when _you_ say it-"

"Hypocrite," Levi interrupted once more.

"No," Joseph growled, "I actually have a reason t-"

"Hypocrite," Levi repeated.

"I-"

"Hypocrite," Levi repeated.

Joseph narrowed his eyes. He opened his mouth, and instantly, Levi said, "Hypocrite."

Joseph groaned as Levi laughed. "I win," he said.

"Since when was this a competition?" Joseph shouted back.

"Now," Levi responded.

"What? You can't just do that."

"Yes, I can. It's not like it's illegal, right?"

"It isn't, but you can't just change the rules of a conversation like that!"

"We aren't roleplaying, man."

The childish conversation went on for about five minutes until finally, they dropped it, and apologized to one another.

"I'm sorry," Levi said. "I got carried away that time."

"Mhm," Joseph agreed. "But, it's fine. I'm sorry too, and I forgive you."

Levi nodded, smiling lightly. "Thanks, Jose-(*shiver*)-ph."

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just cold."

"Oh, right. I completely forgot about that."

Joseph scooted over closer to Levi then pulled him in for a tight, warm hug. Levi gasped when Joseph pulled him close, then pushed Joseph away as he rolled off to the side. "No!" he cried.

Joseph let out a loud laugh. "Why not?" he asked.

"That's fucking weird!"

"How? You're just shy and sensitive." Joseph writhed over towards Levi.

Seeing this, Levi squirmed over even more, farther away from him. While he was rolling, he wailed, "No!"

Just as Levi was about to legitimately roll off the bed, Joseph grabbed him by the wrist. "Be careful," he said.

"I'd rather fall off the bed than cuddle with you," Levi shouted, trying to pull his wrist out of Joseph's tight grasp.

Right when Levi's hand was close to getting loose, Joseph tightened his grip and pulled him back on the bed, then hugged him tightly. "You're just _trying_ to make it weird at this point," he said. "Besides, I'm trying to help you here!"

When those words came out of Joseph's mouth, Levi froze. He looked over at Joseph, glaring daggers right at his pupils. Despite the emotionally painful scowl, Joseph acted like it didn't hurt, and Levi fell for it. "God damn," Levi sighed, "I guess there's really nothing I can do to you anymore, huh?"

"I wouldn't say that," Joseph said. "You can still do a lot to me."

"Like what?"

Joseph almost died of shock at the sudden change of tone in Levi's voice.

His voice went from disappointed anger to upset embarrassment. Or, in other words, rough to soft. This voice was one that Joseph hasn't heard at all because Levi was always aggressive. It was as if Levi was being forced to talk about his childhood, in which it would upset him, causing his voice to get quieter in the process.

But yet, there was no reluctance able to be heard in his tender voice.

Joseph wanted to hear more of it and urged Levi on. "You can make me happy," Joseph said quietly.

Levi's eyes lit up, yet his voice stayed the same. "I can really?" he gasped.

Joseph nodded, a smile stretching across his face. "You do every day, and I don't even think you notice it," he said.

Levi's eyes looked away from Joseph's face as he grinned lightly. "That's a first; at least, in a while."

"Hey," Joseph said, suddenly.

"Yeah?" Levi responded.

"I've never seen this side of you before."

"What side? You mean my voice?"

"Yes."

Levi's eyes met with Joseph's once again. "I don't like speaking in this voice because it makes me look weak, and I don't want people to make fun of me for it. You're the only person who wouldn't judge me for anything, and since you technically forced me to bring it out, I decided, why not?" he explained, his tone suddenly serious despite the quietness of his voice.

"Aw," Joseph said, "that's adorable."

Levi narrowed his eyes. "If you want it to stay, then don't fucking tease me," he hissed in a bitter and vulgar tone.

"Woah, sorry," Joseph gasped.

Levi clicked his tongue. "Do you even like that voice? If so, why?" he growled in that same, menacing voice.

Joseph honestly had taken a liking to Levi's more calm voice, but Joseph thought that if he said so, he thought Levi wouldn't believe him and yell at him even more. But, he didn't want to lie either, so he spoke honestly. "Yes, I really do," he said. "And I like it because now I know something new about you, and I love getting to know people better."

Levi shot another intimidating glare at Joseph. It was so sudden Joseph flinched. "You're not lying," Levi muttered lowly.

Joseph shook his head almost instantly.

Levi let out a heavy sigh. "Eh, too bad," he groused.

And that was that. Levi's soft voice was gone.

Joseph was slightly upset to hear Levi's softer voice disappear, Joseph was used to Levi's harsher voice. "Well, at least you're warm enough now, right?" Joseph said.

"No shit Sherlock," Levi responded.

Joseph let go of Levi as Levi almost instantly rolled away from him and off the bed. Once he landed, he landed with a loud thud and shouted, " _FUCK!_ "

Joseph laughed as he sat up and crawled over to the edge of the bed to look down at Levi. He'd fallen on his back, so he had no idea how that could've hurt Levi in the slightest. "Are you alright?" Joseph asked.

" _I GUESS,_ " Levi screamed.

Joseph smiled, holding back a laugh. "Okay then."

He reached down and grabbed Levi's wrist, pulling him up and back onto the bed. It was so sudden and so fast that Levi screamed when he was hauled upward.

Joseph let go of Levi's wrist, allowing Levi to assess himself before doing anything more. Once Levi was properly fixtured, sitting upward, the two of them were sitting right next to each other, side by side. After a few awkward seconds, Joseph looked to his left, staring at Levi. Although his gaze was strong, Levi seemed as if he couldn't feel Joseph's mocha-colored eyes staring right at him. Joseph was expecting Levi to turn and look at him, but, surprisingly, he didn't, and just kept staring straight ahead at seemingly nothing.

"Uh... are you... okay now?" Joseph asked.

Levi rubbed the nape of his neck, in an apparently embarrassed way. "Yup," he muttered.

Joseph nodded, standing up from the bed. He walked over to the door, and just as he was about to exit Levi's room, he heard Levi shout, "WAIT!"

Joseph turned around to face Levi. "What is it?" he asked.

Levi opened his mouth to say something but shut it slowly, hesitating. It stayed closed for a few more seconds so Joseph just assumed that Levi lost his words and turned around towards the door again, but when he heard Levi call out to him for the second time, he turned around, a bit more irritated. "What," Joseph repeated, making sure to emphasize his impatience in his voice.

"Uh… um… er… uh…" Levi stammered.

"JUST SPIT IT OUT!"

"CAN YOU STAY?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure." Joseph ambled over towards Levi's bed and plopped down on the mattress. "Why were you ashamed to ask me that, of all things?" he added.

Levi took a few seconds to realize what Joseph had said. He closed his eyes, folded his arms, and turned away, saying, "I have my reasons, and I won't tell you those reasons because you might judge me for them," Levi answered.

Joseph laughed.

"If you say so," he said.


End file.
